St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1887-01-29
dUMoRs OF KERRY.
0osno e1ngu1aP1y Amusing keDarks Ia
BY Irish Pooaoats.


BY Irish Peassats.
1t is . peculiarly of the Irish peasan,
that he has way Of irresistibly tickling
your sense Of the ridiculous just at tho
very moment when you are most anx.
ious to exhibit your sympathy. Our
boatman. who lost his brother . few
years back. was giving me some ac-
count of the latter's last illness. in
which he sorely tried my gravity BY
saving: HE had an airy fit. yer honor.
and then. saving your presence. he was
very sick in his shtomach." What An
''airy hit" exactly means have not been
able to discover; bat have ascertained
that IL is > mysterious seizure, akin to
fairy stroke" which has set some
OF US wondering whether '.airy" might
not possibly b the same IS ''eerie."
In some of these statements of their
ailments by the peasantry. the pictur-
esque element resides in single word.
A woman came to our door this summer,
and on being interrogated. explained as
follows: I'm . poor lame crayturc.
and I've lost the footing from under
me-" More forcible was the declara-
tion made quite recently to our neigh
Dor opposite. BY an applicant for help:
II had three childher. yer honor; but.
by gsnnies. the chincough pinned wan
Of thcm!' "While I am talking of ail-
ments and comments thereon. l can
not refrain from giving IN anccdote
from another part Of the country. but
which Is we'll authenticated. A land.
lord noted for his bulk Of person way
lying seriously i'll. and one Of his ten
ants, who came to inquire after ''the
MASTER" was informed that he was
being kept up BY the occasional admin
istration Of teaspo0nfuls of brandy.
Whereon he rejOined somewhat con-
temptuously: .'Tayspoons. is it? And
what good would tayspoon be. sthray-
ing about in such . wilderness Of .
MANI"
The Irish peasant. though apt to DO
long winded at times. is capable on oc-
casion OF summarizing the situation in
terse fashion. A landlord
showed me lately . letter he had. re-
ceived from q former tenant, now in |
in which there occurred the |
following passage: "There are moro
men idle in Sydney than there 10 in T |
- 6ock. looking for work and pray
INK God not to getit. but loafing around
from one public house to another"
Again the expression made use Of BY Q |
Kerry gamekceper to describe the A.
cent OF steep green slope-namely.
that lone was atm grass all the way"
has always struck me as . singularly |
vivid pi icture of the relative positions
Df climber and hillside. But londneas
Tor fine words and expansion is moro
frequently observable than the epigram-
matte vein illustrated above. One Of
,ur laborers. who aftorward became .
most efficient member Of the London
police. went over to Italy 10 Join the
Pops's brigade in 1860. and on
lis return presented my father
With the diary he had kept during
lis absence. have this literary
'ffort in my possession. and will ex-
ract from it ono sentence: I'VE
listed St. Peters Church. and I can't
'resume the idea Of giving an adum-
ration Of its beauty" OF Irish
bulls" have not encountered anv
,ood specimen Of late. The story OF
he priest who prays weekly ''ior the
mainland Of valentia and all the ad-
AGENT British islets d. suspect. apoc-
yphsl. Finally. let mo wind up nv I
stter with an anscdote of m incident
Ihich occurred at . lire in Dublin.
~ brother. who was among the spec
stors. heard from time TO time q voice
> OF . woman wandering about ,
mong the crowd and crying aloud in !
itiful accents: ''Och! Mrs. Nc
ormick. Mrs. Mccormick" At last
10 wanderer discovered the object of .
or search. and - it happened to be
his immediate neighborhood. he
stoned with great attention to tho
rgcnt communication she had to
'ake. His feelings. therefore. may
ell be imagined when he heard tho =
pod lady oxclain: ..)ch! glory be to >
od. Mrs. Mccormick. We shall all be
armed in our beds this nightr'--Los-